HC Deb 25 April 1956 vol 551 cc1768-9
18. Mr. Warbey

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if, in the forthcoming White Paper on the current sittings of the Disarmament Sub-Committee, he will include the detailed proposals of Her Majesty's Government on the powers of a control organ.

Mr. Nutting

Any detailed proposals by Her Majesty's Government upon this or any other aspect of disarmament will be so included.

Mr. Warbey

Is it a fact that Her Majesty's Government have put forward detailed proposals for enforcement powers for the control organ? If so, can the right hon. Gentleman say how these will, in fact, be enforced?

Mr. Nutting

There is a later Question on the Order Paper on that subject, and I do not wish to anticipate the answer to it.

30. Mr. Beswick

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs which section, paragraph or annex of the Anglo-French disarmament proposals contain the proposals for enforcing the disarmament stages; and if he will state the means by which, under the Anglo-French proposals, the controls agents will be enabled to compel any nation to carry out its orders.

Mr. Nutting

The Anglo-French proposals of 19th March did not attempt to define the powers of the control officials, but the view of Her Majesty's Government on this question was made quite clear in my right hon. and learned Friend's statement on 16th April.

Mr. Beswick

As a mater of fact that was not clear, and since we have not put in any terms as to how, in the event of a disarmament agreement, we can enforce the initial stages, if there is non-compliance by any nation, would the Minister of State suggest to his right hon. and learned Friend that this is not one of the points of difference between ourselves and the Soviet Union?

Mr. Nutting

I regret to say that it is one of the points of difference between ourselves and the Soviet Union, as has proved to be the case in the Disarmament Sub-Committee.

31. Mr. Beswick

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to what extent the disarmament proposals put forward by Her Majesty's Government are dependent upon the settlement of outstanding international political issues; and what particular political issues have been advanced as requiring settlement before we can accept that all the proposed disarmament stages should be completed.

Mr. Nutting

As my right hon. and learned Friend made clear in his statement in the House on 16th April and upon several occasions in the past, it would be impossible for us to carry out a comprehensive disarmament agreement until there had been a settlement of outstanding political issues. This would not, however, prevent us from making a start on certain partial measures of disarmament in the present state of the world.

Mr. Beswick

Does that mean that if the Soviet Union accepted the proposals now being advanced by this Government and by the French Government, we should then say that we could not either start or complete them until the Soviet Union had accepted the reunification of Germany?

Mr. Nutting

No, Sir. If the hon. Gentleman had listened to my answer he would not have gathered that impression. It is not true to say that we cannot make a start with disarmament before the settlement of outstanding international political issues, but we do not believe that we could carry through a comprehensive disarmament programme, including drastic reductions in forces and armaments, until political problems have been settled.